ColinMiller

Speaker Profile

Colin Miller is a consummate cricketing journeyman, whose talents have seen him play for three Australian states, Holland’s national team, a number of European clubs, and in locations as novel in the cricketing world as Asia. Colin Miller is a spirited and unusual right arm bowler, belligerent lower order batsman, and wholehearted fieldsman.

Nicknamed ‘Funky’ on account of his outgoing nature and love of music, it can also be said that he offers a refreshing and vibrant approach to the sport. Colin made national headlines when he took the field during the 2000/01 New Year 5th Test against the West Indies with federation blue hair. Colin shows the kind of true spirit that appears to be missing from other players’ games in an era of ever-increasing professionalism.

However, it was his ability as well as popularity on the pitch that lead to Colin winning Test Cricketer of the Year at the Allan Border Medal dinner before departing with the Australian Test team on the Indian Tour. From his cricketing origins in the western suburbs of Melbourne until the late 1990’s, Miller’s career was built primarily on his reputation as a strong right-arm paceman who could move the ball both ways and who had the capacity to vary his pace cleverly. In recent times, however, he has made a staggering transformation to his game, which has seen him rise from being a consistent and well regarded State player with Tasmania to an Australian first-class record breaker and to the status of international surprise packet. Colin returned to Melbourne to live in 2000 and played for the Victorian Bushrangers until the 2001/02 season.

Almost unbelievably, Miller’s decision in a club game in Hobart to revert from bowling pace to off-spin (on account of a niggling ankle injury) was the catalyst for him to begin mixing both styles of bowling. It triggered an astonishing chain of events in his cricketing life. Among the more notable of these were his haul of 12 for 119 against South Australia at Bellerive in January 1998 (an all-time record for a Tasmanian bowler in a Sheffield Shield match); his phenomenal rewriting in 1997-98 of Chuck Fleetwood-Smith’s 63 year old record for the highest number of wickets in a season and his stunning emergence at the age of 34 as a valued member of Australia’s history-making team which toured Pakistan in 1998. Miller’s value to the Australian Team was highlighted during the 1998/99 tour to the West Indies when he was called into the 4th Test side and turned in an inspiring cameo performance.

Miller, who replaced the dropped Shane Warne, dominated day two of the Test, hitting a Test best score and taking the first two wickets of the West Indies innings. His innings of 43, in particular, epitomised his approach to the game. Miller was a surprise addition to the ICC Kenya Knockout One Day Team, although Colin withdrew from the squad due to injury. Thriving on the love hate relationship with the Australian selectors, Colin joined the Test Team for the 3rd Test against the West Indies in Adelaide, took 5-89 and won Man of the Match. Colin’s inclusion in the 2001 Ashes Squad Colin was another step towards what will always be remembered as one of the most amazing first-class success stories.

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